Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California
Half owner refuses to sell
A Court decree put my name on the deed to a SF property as half owner and as tennents in common in Feb 06. It is a rental property. A Studio valued at $400K. I met the other owner 25 years and basically don't know him. He won't talk to me about the property, share rents, sell on the market or buy me out. Questions: 1. Can I force the sale 2. Since I am broke and near retirement will an attorney take a contengency fee from the sale and 3. what percentage should the attorney get. Thanks
4 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Half owner refuses to sell
I currently have a partition case in San Mateo County and am only charging my hourly rate to be paid at the end of the case. Call me directly at 16192223504.
Re: Half owner refuses to sell
a partition action can be filed in superior court to force sale of the property. fee arrangements depend upon the attorney who represents you.
see code of civil procedure 872.010 through 872.840 at
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/calawquery?codesection=ccp&codebody=&hits=20
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/calawquery?codesection=ccp&codebody=&hits=20
Re: Half owner refuses to sell
Partition actions can be maintained when you have an undivided interest. Here your situation will dictate what an attorney charges you. You could pay 25%-40% depending on the circumstances and attorney if you only will do a contingency payment.
My office can offer competent service at reasonable rates.
Joshua Hale
619.298.1969
Re: Half owner refuses to sell
As the other lawyers have told you, you may have recourse to the courts to partition the property. As a tenant in common, you also would have the right to one-half the rents, if you would want to go that way. If rents have built up over a long time period, that may be quite a lot of money. A lawyer could be paid on a contingency or hourly basis. Feel free to contact me if you would like to discuss this further.